Woman accused in fatal hit-and-run appears before judge, still in custody

Thursday

May 9, 2013 at 1:10 PM

A woman accused in a fatal hit-and-run crash last month appeared before a judge Thursday morning for a bond hearing, but remains in custody.

By Jenny Arnold and Kim KimzeyStaff Writers

A woman accused in a fatal hit-and-run crash last month appeared before a judge Thursday morning for a bond hearing, but remains in custody.Colleen Adaire Casey, 25, is charged with leaving the scene of an accident involving death. She appeared before Circuit Court Judge Derham Cole, who will issue an order later regarding her bond. In the meantime, she remains at the Spartanburg County Detention Facility.According to the S.C. Highway Patrol, Jacquelyn Cara White, 23, of Spartanburg, was hit by a car near Lake Forest and Torino drives early on April 22. She was pronounced dead at 5:21 a.m. at Spartanburg Regional Medical Center.Prosecutors have said Casey and White were acquaintances who saw each other the night before the incident.Brendan Delaney, Casey’s attorney, said his client is a 2005 graduate of Spartanburg High School, and she is close to earning a bachelor’s degree from the University of South Carolina Upstate, where she is majoring in psychology and minoring in religion.Delaney said Casey was driving that night, came to a winding, wooded area and hit something. The attorney said Casey didn’t know what she hit and continued driving.Casey and her boyfriend later returned to scene, her attorney said.“She found out it’s her best friend, Jackie,” Delaney said, adding that Casey became “hysterical” and left.Authorities haven’t said why White was walking that stretch of road.Seventh Circuit Solicitor Barry Barnette said there was no question that Casey left the scene of the crash. He said there was also an attempt to cover up the incident.Someone dialed 911 that morning, and Casey and her boyfriend could be heard talking, the solicitor told Cole during the hearing. At one point, Casey’s boyfriend told her that she shouldn’t have been drinking and driving, Barnette said. In another 911 call obtained by the Herald-Journal, Casey’s boyfriend, Kevin Miller, called for help from where White was found by the side of the road.In that call, Miller identified himself and told dispatchers that he had been driving in the area and “saw something” on the side of the road.“And I stop and I shine my light at it and it’s a person,” Miller told a dispatcher. He said it looked like a woman, about 20 years old. The woman wasn’t breathing, didn’t have a pulse and she had blood coming from her mouth, Miller said.No other cars were around, Miller told the dispatcher, and he was alone. He can be heard during the call pumping White’s chest in an effort to revive her.Solicitor’s office spokesman Murray Glenn said his office is still waiting on blood test results to come back on Casey, to determine whether she was under the influence of drugs or alcohol the morning of the incident.Spartanburg County Coroner Rusty Clevenger said he waiting on the autopsy report to be completed before he can release the cause of death for White.During the bond hearing, Jackie White’s brother, Thomas White III, told Judge Cole that Casey’s actions showed a lack of respect for the law.“Ms. Casey is a danger to this community.” Thomas White said.

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